Liverpool's chances of claiming a seventh FA Cup have been bolstered after Xabi Alonso emerged unscathed from his first training session since straining ankle ligaments at Portsmouth on Sunday and he is now set to start tomorrow's final.

The Spanish midfielder trained on his own while the rest of the first team prepared but was then able to take part in the warm-up and many of the routines without reporting any reaction to the injury.

The 24-year-old will be hoping to make up for missing last season's Carling Cup final after breaking his ankle in the New Year's Day defeat by Chelsea. He is likely to line up alongside Mohamed Sissoko in the centre of midfield, with Steven Gerrard expected to begin on the right in the place of the suspended Luis García.

Also present in Cardiff should be the 1,000 Liverpool fans whose tickets were stolen last week. Liverpool will replace the tickets with those they had held back for a ballot of fan-card members.

The stadium's chief executive Paul Sergeant welcomed that move but said the club only had themselves to blame. "This is the most sensible conclusion to this unfortunate set of circumstances," said Sergeant. "There is no one more pleased than us that those fans who were due to miss out will now be coming to the Millennium Stadium after all. However, if Liverpool had followed stadium advice and dispatched tickets in a secure way, this situation would not have arisen.

"Our no-duplicates policy has been born out of similar thefts - albeit on a smaller scale - which have happened in previous seasons with Liverpool and other sporting clubs and we are pleased to be able to send a clear message to those who deal in black-market tickets that stealing Millennium Stadium tickets is not profitable. Ticket touts will not be tolerated."

The club have now scrapped plans to hold a ballot for fans who had attended a minimum of two games, leaving Liverpool with about 23,000 fans in Cardiff rather than the 24,000 originally allocated. They are to issue the Millennium Stadium with a definitive list of which tickets can be deemed stolen property for the benefit of South Wales police.

"We are confident the vast majority of supporters affected [by the theft] will be offered replacement tickets for the final," said the Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry. "Our ticket-office staff will be contacting those fans this morning to say their tickets will be replaced.

"Obviously, those supporters who had applied for inclusion in the ballot will be disappointed but we feel this is the best way to deal with a very difficult situation. We were disappointed with our initial allocation and the bottom line is 1,000 fewer Liverpool fans will be able to watch their team in the FA Cup final."